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Pedestrian struck by car on Valley Boulevard and 7th Street, second accident at intersection in one week

A woman was struck by a vehicle Monday while crossing Valley Boulevard at 7th Street, according to the Alhambra Police Department. This is the second pedestrian accident at the intersection in one week.

The woman, a 25-year-old Alhambra resident, was crossing Valley at 11:34 p.m. when a westbound vehicle struck her, launching her nearly 80 feet, said Sgt. Jerry Johnson of the Alhambra Police Department. She was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital where she was treated for a broken back, cuts, and lacerations.

The driver, a 52-year-old woman from La Puente, stopped and cooperated with the investigation. She did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to Johnson.

Another woman was struck by a car Thursday at the same intersection. The woman was walking across Valley when she was struck by a westbound vehicle. She suffered head injuries and was taken to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Johnson told the Pasadena Star-News. The incident is still under investigation.

The intersection, which is marked by a crosswalk but does not have traffic lights or stop signs on Valley, is "a problem," Johnson said. Alhambra police will conduct a pedestrian decoy operation at the intersection on Sept. 23 to increase pedestrian safety, he added. Plainclothes officers will cross the street while uniformed officers nearby will enforce pedestrian safety law if needed.

"We do ongoing monitoring of that intersection," Johnson said. "We know it’s a problem, so officers do monitor it."

11 thoughts on “Pedestrian struck by car on Valley Boulevard and 7th Street, second accident at intersection in one week”

As I witnessed, yesterday evening there were 4 skateboarders and one cyclist roam on the sidewalk on Main between Garfield and Stoneman within a 10-minute time frame, in the presence of pedestrians. Before the City Council talks about a bike plan, it should implement a pedestrian safety plan.

alhambra does not like pedestrians or bike riders. They refuse to make streets safer with stop signs or pedestrian ‘flashing lights crosswalks’. alhambra will not address its high “hit rate’ for a city its size, California Statistical Abstract, and will waste more time and alhambra money with Pedestrian Decoy
Operations, some drivers will get tickets, yes, but will the actual problem be addressed, no.
street are very unsafe for pedestrians, nothing will change until there is a change in city personnel and real thinking and planning. 2 years ago a young woman was hit and killed while walking in a crosswalk, local residents had asked repeatedly for a stop sign but were denied. The comment from APW was ‘she was hit by a moving vehicle so is is a police problem, not ours’ that comment was reported in the Pasadena news. Alhambra City Hall loves cars and cars moving fast and un impeded by stop signs or lights, they, powers that be, still see Alhambra as it was 35 years ago denying that changes have happened and a rethinking and planning is needed for our streets

I just want to add that police needs to pay attention to bicyclists and skateboarders who ride on sidewalks. They pose serious threats to pedestrians and motorists. I, as an pedestrian, have been “harassed” multiple times by those people. And as a motorist, I almost got hit last month by a cyclist on Main St near Ralph’s who was travelling like 30 mph on the sidewalk thinking he was the king of the road/sidewalk.

Tim, why on earth would you not want a bike plan for our city? We are talking about public safety and how to improve it. Your comment was mean spirited and off topic. Improving the crosswalks with some flashing strips and having safe bike routes across our city is a step in the right direction. No need to slam people who are just concerned about improving our public safety.

Gloria, but nothing mean-spirited to finger-point at others and nothing off topic to mention taking “a break” on development (whatever that means). Of course I want a bike plan, that’s the cool thing nowadays.

Yes, it’s terrible what happened to this woman, no person deserves this. There are lots of inattentive drivers out there. One thing I try to do when crossing the streets is to always look at the driver’s eyes. If they never look at me that’s when I keep my guard up.

This situation has been getting worse – so many deaths. Alhambra council please focus on your community and make Alhambra safe for pedestrians and bicyclists. What happen to the bike plan? Take a break from all the development and concentrate on the people who live here.

Alhambra needs to do something meaningful and concrete. It’s time to move forward with making long term changes to their streets so that they serve everyone. This is absolutely ridiculous how slow the city has been when it comes to safe streets for all.

The money spent on police decoy operations is better spent on improving the “infrastructure” of the road. For example, instead of putting a traffic light or stop sign, the city can install some flashing device on the crossing that only flashes when someone wants to cross the road and pushes a button on the curbside. And the device would stop flashing after a couple minutes. Many other cities have technology like this.

It’s time to do something more than just another decoy operation. One accident like this is too many.
We need to improve the business district by making it more pedestrian friendly. Installing bubble corners that bring the sidewalk out come to mind. They make it easier to see pedestrians looking to cross and should slow drivers down. Better lighting intended for pedestrians should help as well since lower lampposts mean more light on pedestrians at the corners. Such improvements would make the area more inviting for business goers, which could attract both businesses and clientele. When I find time, I’ll take photos of examples of what I mean. If you know what I’m talking about and can beat me to it, that would be just as awesome.
Either way, the old thinking that just accepts these incidents without more isn’t acceptable. Complacency isn’t progress toward a better city or society.